Minute44 - Dan Schonhaar

It’s been 12 years since we left John McClane with his new-found friend Zeus Carver on the side of a Quebec street having just spectacularly blown up Simon’s helicoptor with some electrical cables after uttering his obligatory catch-phrase; “Yippee Ki Yay mother fucker”. I’m sure I was not alone in thinking, until rumours of this fourth installment began to surface, that this would be the last time the beloved character would appear on the silver screen… But thank god I was wrong!

This installment sees John McClane yet again fighting the almost Die-Hard-Patented Theives posing as terrorists. This time, however, it’s Cyber-terror that get’s the Die Hard treatment with Timothy Olyphant (Go, A man apart, Gone in 60 seconds) playing the role of Thomas Gabriel, a formerly government-employed IT security consultant who was fired for “Hacking into Norad using only a Laptop” to point out the military’s inadequate security. McClane is given the task of overseeing the safe transport of young hacker and genius Matt Farrell played by Justin Long (Dodgeball) to police custody following the assassinations of various other prolific hackers across the country. It is at this point McClane becomes involved in Gabriel’s plans.

Gabriel and his team, made up of equal parts of brains and braun, begin to carry out a “Fire Sale” which is basically a massive hack of all computer operated systems in the country. All is not as it seems though and when Mclane begins to interfere in Gabriel’s plans, things get personal and McClane’s daughter, Lucy is kidnapped and her life threatened. John must not only rescue his daughter but also put a stop to Gabriel and his team before the USA is brought to it’s knees.

The computer illiterate McClane is not alone in his fight, however and the young Matt Farrel is never far from his side providing technological assistance whenever it’s needed.

It appears with time some things have changed with our hero. He’s come to terms with his hair loss and has decided to shave off the few remaining hairs rather than opt for a much less action movie friendly comb-over. He’s also managed to curb his bad language, a move that someone as cynical as myself could see as a change to fit the movie into a PG-13 certificate (15 in the UK) so as to maximise profits. But dispite these changes, Detective John McClane is as good an action hero as he has ever been, dishing out beatings and hillarious one-liners as if the events of the 40 story Nakatomi Plaza 19 years previous had happened only yesterday.

The protagonist is not the only factor to a story’s success, however and the supporting performances in this movie are also as good as I would have hoped. They certainly had big shoes to fill after Die Hard With a Vengance and supporting performances from Jeremy Irons and Samuel L Jackson. Justin Long and Timothy Olypahnt are excellent in this film and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lucy McLane is also hugely entertaining. An unexpected role from Kevin Smith is something I wasn’t expecting to see but I have to say I enjoyed it.

The special effects were all great and the scene with the fighter jet and the Juggernaut was superbly shot and put together. Stunts were great too and with the addition of CGI were only enhanced.

So all good then? Not really, no. You see, although this film ticked all the right boxes for an adrenaline fuelled action adventure… It didn’t feel like Die Hard. It seemed far too glossy and polished. I felt distanced from the action, something that was certainly not an issue with the previous three films. Also, McClane was given almost Carte Blance to roam from place to place fighting these new, high-tech bad guys. He goes from New York, to DC to Maryland. I think some of the success of the previous movies came from the fact that the action was confined to a very well defined area (Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard, Dulles international airport in Die Hard 2 and Central New York City in Die Hard with a Vengance). McClane is best in confined areas. Also… McLane flies a Helicoptor! I’m sorry but that seems like something the John McClane I thought I knew would never do.

Overall though, I really enjoyed this film and I reccomend any fan of the Previous installments of Die Hard should go and see it.